Mad Men: "Love Among the Ruins" Review

The discomfort of being Peggy.

Poor Peggy. We've seen Ms. Olson come so far on Mad Men, particularly given the obstacles she's faced as a skilled woman in an era where society has continually tried to pigeonhole her. Despite her notable achievements at Sterling Cooper, Peggy's still an Other amongst the old boys club, as becomes clear again when they begin working on a campaign for Pepsi's new diet drink, Patio.

Once more, Mad Men has a nice little pop culture history lesson for us here – as I had no idea Patio even existed, before Pepsi figured out Diet Pepsi was a better brand name for their lower calorie drink. Don's great, sarcastic line about the name -- "Because everyone wants a drink that sounds like a floor" -- kind of said it all.

Peggy also had one of the episode's best lines, as she described Ann-Margret in Bye Bye Birdie as having the ability to "be 25 and act 14", after it was decided Patio's TV commercial would emulate the opening sequence from that film. Never a girl who stands out, Peggy can only watch as men watch Joan's every move, and lament the Patio campaign using a sexy girl to sell a product aimed at health-conscience women. A scene that is both sad and comical has her encounter Roger on the elevator, who's lamenting his own problems with his daughter and manages to be very in-character as he has the most blasé reaction ever to her telling him her father is dead.

Elisabeth Moss, as always, was terrific throughout this episode – has anyone ever been so skilled at displaying the art of observation, something Peggy clearly excels at? You can see the hurt in her eyes as she keeps encountering example after example of how women in general and she in particular are perceived – and it begins to boil.

This culminates in her doing something very un-Peggy like, and going to a crowded bar after work, clearly seeking the validation of horny young men. It results in a semi-awkward one night stand, which Peggy doesn't allow to go all the way when it turns out the guy she's gone home with doesn't have a condom (after all, she knows the risks well…), though she does point out, "We can do other things." A poignant moment shows that this guy is actually pretty smitten as he makes it clear he'd like to see Peggy again, even as she's clearly blowing him off.

Don and Betty's home life took a big turn this week, as Betty's dad is now living with them. This actually came about thanks to some nice moments for Don, as he took a stand for Betty with her brother and turned on the Don Draper: Bad Mo Fo vibe to get the little weasel to back down. But with her father clearly not all mentally there, there are going to be some challenges ahead. At the same time, another humorous but horrific part of this episode showed Betty constantly casually drinking and smoking, while very pregnant. Ah, the early 60s...

Meanwhile, we got more insight into the fractured power structure at the new Sterling Cooper, after Pryce had Don aggressively pursue the soon to be built Madison Square Garden as a client. Another funny Roger moment had him say almost nothing before passing the buck to Don with the line, "Well, I've done all I can", who did his thing and secured them – even after Paul had nearly ruined the whole thing. But then in the end, Pryce's "Call from London" had them call the whole thing off.

Pryce's exhausted sounding "I don't know" when Don asked why they even bought Sterling Cooper put Pryce into a better perspective, as we realize he may be calling the shots in New York, but in truth he's middle management. Knowing Mad Men, there will not be a quick and easy fix for this situation – I don't expect Sterling Cooper to miraculously revert to their former ownership. That being the case, it should be interesting to watch this already shaky (to say the least) situation develop, or collapse, as the season progresses.